Fantastic fight back into the top 10

The slippery track surface had an immediate impact on Smith’s race. He suffered a big rear tyre slide while accelerating off the line and it was only the lightning reflexes of the 22-year-old that saved him from a fall.

He dropped right to the back of the field but despite only having very limited experience of the YZR-M1 in wet conditions, Smith’s recent attempts to smoothen his riding style proved vital this afternoon.

Smith quickly established a fast rhythm and as his confidence grew he was able to deliver a fantastic fight back into the top 10. His rousing recovery to ninth moves him to the brink of the top 10 in the World Championship classification on 17 points.

Bradley Smith 9th – 17 points:“Today was a really good learning experience. I’d hardly ridden the YZR-M1 in the rain before, so to get 28 laps under my belt in really tricky conditions was obviously an experience that taught me a lot. During the race I was able to ride a lot smoother and I hope I can carry over something from this experience to the dry in the future. I’m a little bit disappointed with the start of the race. I had a problem with the clutch in the warm up but we were sure it was just because this was my first start in the wet but apparently it was not. But after the first 10 laps to the end of the race I had a very good pace and I’m happy with the improvement made during the whole weekend with ninth position in qualifying and also ninth in the race. That’s my best MotoGP result and gives my confidence another lift, so now I’m really looking forward to going to Mugello, which is a track I can’t wait to ride a MotoGP bike on. Congratulations also to Cal. He rode an awesome race and in an important race for Tech 3 and Monster Energy it was great to see both of us having such a positive result.”

Herve Poncharal – Team Manager:“That was a very special race for everybody connected to the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team. Seeing Cal get a fantastic second place in France and with Monster Energy a title sponsor of the event is incredible because there is always quite a lot of pressure on us to perform. I’m also very pleased with the great job Bradley did. He had another strong weekend and was improving in every session and he recovered incredibly well from a bad start. He hasn’t ridden the YZR-M1 much in the rain but he built up his pace and confidence and the most important thing was for him to finish and gain some vital experience on this conditions. I’m sure Monster Energy got some great exposure from Cal and Bradley and now we can’t wait for the next challenge in Mugello.”